


When a Bad Day Gets Worse

by Squigly2404



Category: Thunderbirds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25056514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squigly2404/pseuds/Squigly2404
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

There were days being a member of International Rescue was amazing and there were days it definitely sucked. And then there were the days which really just wanted to make you yell at the universe. Today was one of the latter.  
It had been an inauspicious start, a call out for him and Gordon to a simple cargo ship rescue. A bad storm had caused a weak point in an old ship to fail and warp, allowing water to seep in. Gordon had deployed in 4 to inspect the rest of the ship for damage or other potential points of failure whilst he rounded up all the crew. The majority of them were in the main cabin huddled around the radio and the weather monitoring equipment. They had survived this storm and, as long as their pumps kept working, would probably have been able to make it to safety themselves, except, another storm was rolling in and conventional rescue couldn’t reach them in time. John and EOS had decided as it was a case of “a stitch in time, saves nine” and it was better to ensure the ship and crew reached harbour before the next storm could make their situation life-threatening. Gordon, always happy to deploy with four had bounced down to the hangar with an easy smile and started discussing with EOS the wildlife native to the area the ship was in.  
Virgil knew that 2 was needed to evacuate the crew and do any heavy lifting but he still felt a little like Gordon’s taxi. So, it was significantly less bouncing that he eased himself up from the piano stool and into the living room to go down his chute. Inside 2, Gordon’s cheerful mood was infectious and Virgil felt his own spirits lifting, not quite to Gordon’s level but high enough to join in the chatter about what fish they might see.  
“We’re too far out to sea for Vaquita, but there might be other porpoises, dolphins, sharks and whales” said Gordon leaning out of his seat to get a better view of the water.  
“No Sharks, please” groaned Virgil, “whenever there are sharks involved people get unnecessarily panicky and difficult.” This started Gordon on one of his infamous, “sharks just have a bad rep” monologues. It wasn’t that Virgil disagreed exactly, and he’d enjoyed painting some for Gordon based on photos the aquanaut had taken, but their cold eyes still made him feel uneasy and he much preferred it when they kept their distance.  
They evacuated the crew and patched up the hole as much as possible so the ship could be towed to the nearest harbour. The relief of a simple, successful mission was marred by the annoyance at it having happened in the first place. Poor maintenance had led to the weak patches being missed and corporate nonsense drove the crew to their limits in the name of saving costs. John, EOS and the GDF would be looking into the company, but his job was done and no sharks had made a guest appearance.  
So, feeling reasonably happy he went through 2’s post-flight checks, cleaned the inside, not that it had really gotten much dirt in it on this mission, and was back upstairs in time for lunch. Scott had been called away whilst they were travelling back, another simple mission rescuing some stranded mountaineers. It seems the bad weather lately hadn’t just been at sea. Gordon had beaten him to the kitchen, even Virgil had to admit to himself that there were, occasionally, advantages to having a smaller ‘bird.  
Grandma had set out enough burgers and salad to feed an army and was currently on the receiving end of Gordon’s post-mission fauna themed de-brief. “Oh and we saw some bottle-nosed dolphins on the way, Virgil wouldn’t slow down so I could wave from the bay doors,” a quick glare at the offending brother just to let him know there would be some payback for that later.  
“Quite right” Grandma replied softly, “those people could have needed more urgent help. I’m sure you boys can go dolphin spotting later if there are no more missions.”  
Virgil turned and smiled fondly as he spotted Alan plodding down the stairs from their quarters to join them in the kitchen. His hair was unbrushed, he was barefoot, still in his pyjamas and only half-awake. “Dolphins?” Alan asked brightly, “When?”  
“You can’t come with us unless you shower first,” teased Gordon “You’ll scare them all away looking and smelling like that”. Alan flung his bread roll at Gordon’s head and started to race back out of the kitchen only to get pulled up by Virgil grabbing the back of the pyjama top. Gordon laughed and started the fill the bread roll with a burger and salad watching as Alan spun this way and that to check what had snagged him, obviously not fully awake yet.  
“Lunch first,” commanded Virgil with a mock serious face, but his tone was undermined by the grin he couldn’t quite keep off of his face. “We’ll need to check with John and Scott, but as long as you both eat your lunch, help grandma clean up and clean yourselves up, we can go dolphin watching this afternoon.”  
They managed to eat their lunch in peace and Virgil even managed to talk to Scott and John whilst Gordon and Alan did the dishes to get their approval. Scott sounded a little jealous but he still had to drop off his recused mountaineers at the hospital and wouldn’t be ready to accompany them for a couple hours. So, with a small sigh, he nodded his agreement to Virgil’s plans and returned to his mission. They didn’t get a lot of downtime, and as much as he wanted to go with them, he wouldn’t risk them missing out because he had held them up.  
It was whilst they were waiting for Alan to finish getting ready that the inevitable call came in. Gordon and EOS were looking over a holographic map in the living room tracking several large pods to decide their route when EOS went silent, not that Gordon noticed, he was too busy chattering to himself. Two minutes later John’s hologram appeared in the middle of Gordon’s map and the alarm blared through the house. Virgil and Alan came running into the room from different directions and watched a profusely sorry John trying to contend with a miffed Gordon, a rescue call and an anxious Scott all at the same time.  
It was a big disaster, a large, populated office building had partially collapsed and the rest was extremely unstable. Thunderbird Two and the pods were required immediately to rescue survivors and stabilise the building as much as possible. Scott would meet them as soon as he could and was going to help to coordinate with local authorities whilst he was en-route, freeing up John to locate survivors and direct the rescuers.  
Within minutes pods were being configured and brothers were flying down their various chutes towards Two. Once everything was secure, Virgil wasted no time, running through the pre-flight checks quickly and efficiently so they were in the air only a few minutes after the first distress call.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo, this took a lot longer than I had intended, sorry. Got distracted with uni stuff and then other works. I have already started chapter 3 though so it shouldn't be anywhere near as long a wait for the next chapter. *fingers crossed*

Thunderbird two landed in an empty space in the car park of the collapsed building, as directed by EOS. It had evidently been left empty ready for their arrival and Virgil brought two down in one side of the area, leaving room for one to land alongside later. The trust that that prepared space showed, the belief that IR would be arriving, made Virgil’s heart ache even more and reminded him that no matter how many dolphin-spotting trips were missed, it was always worth it as long as people continued to believe in and need them. The collapsed building, a small mall, covered a large area, at least several hectares and it had all been reduced to a relatively flat pile of rubble. People and dogs were crawling all over its surface, lifting smaller bits of rubble themselves and directing the larger machinery, which was sticking to the perimeter of the rubble, to lift some of the larger pieces. Work on the north side was hampered by a series of small hills which curved around the site and meant machinery couldn’t get close.  
John came back on the comms giving the three of them directions to the command tent and details of the people in charge. Scott had already been liaising directly from the air but Virgil, Alan and Gordon had been focused on analysing as much of the situation as they could and planning POD configurations so they would be ready to start work the moment two was lifted on her struts. Gordon and Alan raced down to the PODs and Virgil shrugged on his exo-suit before joining them on the ground. The command tent was chaotic with engineers and first responders, people in all coloured uniforms milling around sharing information and debating processes. Even in that chaos, everyone went silent as IR crossed the threshold and stared at the three brothers. Gordon, slipping on his cheerful first-responder grin spoke first, in the way he had that always put everyone around him at ease, “Hi there, we’re looking for Garrett I believe our brother Scott called ahead”.   
The general hubbub returned, gawking mouths were closed and conversations re-started leaving the brothers standing in front of a small and intelligent looking fire chief. “Your commander, umm brother, Scott, said you had heavy lifting gear,” he said giving Virgil’s exo-suit an appraising look.  
“We’ve identified a number of trapped people near the surface in the north-east corner of the building”, interrupted Virgil, “with our equipment we should be able to recover them fairly quickly allowing us to start digging in deeper.” Garrett just nodded, this had already been suggested by the IR operative on the radio and he didn’t see any problems with the plan, his people were all busy in other areas with easier access for their heavy moving equipment. This young man in a mobile lifting suit would be much better suited to reaching the awkward north-eastern side of the site.  
Taking the nod as an agreement and dismissal the brothers left the tent and started making their plan; Virgil and Alan would proceed straight to their area of work and Gordon would grab a POD configured with room inside for multiple casualties. The first few hours passed easily as a rhythm was established. Virgil in consultation with EOS would plan a route to a life sign picked up by Thunderbird 5, he would clear away heavy debris, Alan and Gordon would then carefully evacuate and perform first aid.   
Lifting what looked like a solid wood desk top Virgil’s heart skipped a beat, a small white hand was visible reaching upwards. He could tell just from the hand that the person below was already dead and for a moment, indecision caught up with him. There was no real way to protect his little brothers from seeing this, and it’s not like it would be the first dead body they’d come across in their IR careers, but it was never easy. Knowing there was another person whom they weren’t able to save, who might have a family waiting. John interrupted his thoughts, “You’ve been still for a while Virg, everything ok?” Taking a deep sigh Virgil replied with a quick report of the potential body he’d found and the equipment he’d need to gently excavate her before moving on the next, hopefully alive, person.  
After a while Scott joined the team and they made good progress through the first batch of identified victims. After the last of the shallowly buried people had been rescued Scott called a break, they had been working solidly for hours; the supplies in the POD needed refilling, their canteens were empty and each of them was running on fumes. “We should take a break and make a plan with John, EOS and Garrett. We might need to split up and help with the other areas if they’re ready to start digging deeper too.” Reasoned Scott, knowing that sometimes the only way to get the others to take a break was to make it seem like a logical decision for the rescue.  
More volunteers had arrived since they were last in the command tent and thankfully, some of them seemed to be civilians providing food and energy drinks to the workers. Gordon and Alan practically fell into a buffet table set up along one side of the tent whilst Scott and Virgil convened onto a beleaguered looking coffee machine. The other first responders in the tent gave them a wide berth that wasn’t entirely due to not wanting to get a shoulder bump from Virgil’s metal enhanced muscles. Gordon and Alan appeared alongside their elder brothers with two plates of food each, having grabbed more than one of everything for all four of them. “Looks like everyone is at about the same stage across the site” mumbled Alan around his sandwich, “I think we should get out the second POD and use both to help with the moving of debris and leave the other responders to do the first-aid.”  
“I agree” nodded Scott, “any further movement of debris is going to need planning from an engineer, everyone else will have to wait and do as their told.” He gave Virgil a sideways glance, he hated putting all the pressure on his little brother even with his broad shoulders, but there was no-one better qualified, especially with John and EOS helping to double check calculations. Virgil was unfazed, he had expected this, most structure rescues followed a pattern; rescue those who can be easily reached without disrupting the remaining infrastructure then plan routes to the rest whilst trying to disturb the surrounding areas as little as possible.  
With plates and drinks in hands, they wandered back to the large table and map being used to plan the rescue. Virgil coughed politely to gather everyone’s attention, “John, can you project the latest 3D scan onto the table please, showing all the life signs and vitals you’ve gathered.” He couldn’t help a small smile across his face as the other first responders marveled at and started peering through the hologram being projected from his wrist. The smile quickly disappeared as he counted the number of people still trapped and some of their locations.   
Scott couldn’t help but look at his brother with admiration, watching him working through the problem, working with the other rescuers to make a plan for the whole site. It didn’t take long before everyone was being given orders; Scott and Gordon would take one POD to the south and help the crews working there, Alan would stay in the north with his POD and Virgil was planning a particularly tricky rescue which would require him to go in on foot. Scott didn’t like having Alan and Virgil each working alone, but they couldn’t justify hoarding the PODs in one area just to satisfy his big-brother over protectiveness. John would be keeping a close eye on all of them and they would have comms, it would have to be enough for the next few hours stint of work.


	3. Chapter 3

John, knowing Scott would be worried about Virgil and Scott, chimed in with updates on their progress and vitals to a level that would normally have been annoying but was currently reassuring Scott. Alan was making good progress and had almost reached the last victim in his third of the site. Virgil had the trickiest area but was making slow, steady progress. Their third was also progressing well, there had been a few worrying rumbles through the structure and a couple of twisted ankles but they were consistently pulling out people with minimal injuries. Scott had just allowed himself to start thinking about going home soon to a shower and bed when John’s latest update was interrupted by uncharacteristic expletives.  
“John?” question Scott hesitantly, “Everything ok?” he continued, slowly, when neither John or EOS answered. He put down the rubble he had been moving and started to look across the field of debris. Gordon was working steadily just a few yards to his left chatting to a couple of other rescue workers. He could make out a small but bulky green blur, which had to be Virgil, carrying something, possibly another victim, towards the first aid tent. Alan’s POD was stationary on the edge of the debris field, this wasn’t yet a cause for alarm in itself, but he couldn’t see Alan anywhere.   
“Alan fell through some of the debris about 50 yards north east of his POD and I can’t get a response in his comms or a signal from his suit.” Scott slowly lowered his wrist, halfway through opening Alan’s comm channel. A blue flash racing past him and towards Alan’s POD showed Scott that John had replied on an open channel. He started after Gordon, frantically trying to collect his scattered thoughts but John’s voice over the comms scattered them all again. “Scott, did you hear me, I said…”  
“I heard you John” Scott barked back, “What the hell happened? Where’s Alan?” Ahead of him Virgil started moving towards Alan’s POD, even without his exo-suit he was slower than Scott. As Scott approached Virgil he started to slow down for a couple of steps before catching himself and speeding back up. Virgil wouldn’t really expect him to wait and run at the slower speed and if he didn’t catch up to Gordon soon, the chances were high that two brothers would need rescuing. “I don’t know Scott,” replied John, his voice noticeable strained, “one minute he was chatting to a victim and moving some light rubble, the next he was gone. Completely offline.” This time it was Scott’s turn to curse. He caught up to Gordon as they approached the POD and together, they approached the hole in the rubble, cautiously. Scott tried to peer in but it was too dark for his torch and the ground around too unstable to get a proper angle down the hole.   
A slight whirring followed by a thud announced Virgil’s arrival, he was talking to EOS on a closed line and barely acknowledged Scott or Gordon before dropping to the ground and inching forward. Scott tried to get ahold on John on the comms but he must have been busy helping Virgil as EOS replied curtly that they were “a bit busy at the moment.” When John did reply it was just to issue orders, like “move further back” or “grab the rappelling gear” which left Scott and Gordon no better off. In fact, Scott was starting to get angry. It was irrational, he knew, but not having something to do and not being involved in the discussions was starting to drive him crazy. He could sense Gordon getting restless next to him and would need to find something for them to do soon before they burst.  
Following John’s orders, Gordon was securing a rope to the front of the POD and tossing the other end to Virgil softly. Virgil eased the end of the rope over the edge and let it play out. For a moment Scott thought maybe Alan was going to climb up, but if they had been able to make contact with Alan, let alone a plan, John or Virgil would have said something. Which meant Virgil was preparing to go down into the rubble. “Virgil!” Shouted Scott “Maybe we should discuss this, make a plan?” Virgil looked back surprised, caught mid-sentence. Of course he was surprised, he was the engineer and it was his little brother trapped, it wouldn’t have crossed his mind at all that Scott or Gordon might be better suited to the task. This just made Scott angrier.   
In the end John replied, “it has to be Virgil, Scott, you know that.” Coaxed John, “He can assess the structure down there. If Alan’s pinned by anything Virgil will be best suited to determine how to safely move anything.”   
Scott huffed, “I’m not saying Virgil shouldn’t go, not exactly, it would just be nice to know what’s going on. You haven’t told us anything. Have you even made visual contact yet?” He looked pleadingly at Virgil who had the decency to look a little guilty.  
“I’m sorry guys, I should have said sooner,” replied Virgil, turning to look at them, “I can see some blue and red which I think is Alan’s uniform but he’s not responding.” Scott’s heart didn’t know whether to lift at the news they possibly had eyes on or sink at the news his little brother was still unresponsive, it settled for stopping for what felt like an age. “I’m going down and I’ll let you all know as soon as I know anything. I promise.”  
Scott nodded his reply, this throat too constricted to speak, Gordon stood next to him in silence, starring intently at the edge of the pit as Virgil resumed his crawl to the edge and disappeared. They were still staring when raised voices near by brought them back to the larger rescue scene. The distraction had the effect of re-booting Scott’s brain a little and he lifted his wrist to bring up a live map of Virgil’s progress. EOS and John had estimated that he would have to climb down about 15 foot to reach the patch of colour they hoped was Alan. So far it barely seemed like Virgil’s dot had moved at all. Scott knew Virgil needed to be careful and wouldn’t want to risk dropping any debris or make the area more unstable but it was still incredibly frustrating.   
Gordon peered over at his brother’s arm watching the small dot of Virgil moving so slowly it was barely perceptible. Virgil was giving them regular updates on his progress and any holdups, probably to prevent Scott requesting them at awkward moments. And so, it was that the pair of arguing first responders were almost upon Scott and Gordon before either noticed. Unfortunately, they had arrived from the other side of Alan’s third of the rescue site and were so engrossed in their argument they didn’t seem to notice the situation in front of them. Gordon’s head flew up as the words “international rescue” being uttered by the approaching workers registered in his foggy brain. He started to shout for them to stop, alerting Scott, who instinctively threw up his hands in a stop motion but the debris between the two groups of men was already shifting. All of them froze in place waiting for the ground to re-settle, Scott and Gordon watched in horror as rope holding Virgil was caught between two sharp bits of glass debris and neatly cut.   
Scott and Gordon yelled for their brother and started forward but it was too late and more shifting of the ground below their feet quickly brought them back to a halt closely followed by a sickening thud from below. Comprehension started to dawn on the faces of the first responders and they called in for reinforcements on their radios. John was calling for Virgil and Alan over and again on the comms. To a stranger he would have sounded calm but to his family his panic was as evident as if he was screaming. EOS responded by running every test she could think of on the comms system and listing likely injuries from falling as far as Virgil had.  
More people were gathering, at a distance, ready to help but happy to take a break and gawk for a few minutes. Afterall this was International Rescue at work, no-one could be in any real danger let alone one of their own operatives.

“Sc, Scott?” cam Virgil’s trembling voice through the static, “I found Allie.”


	4. Chapter 4

Virgil was worried that Alan had been caught in a gas pocket and would have suffocated before they’d even arrived at his last position, he was worried Alan had been impaled through an artery and bled out whilst he crawled to the hole that had swallowed his littlest brother. A million scenarios paraded through his mind as he struggled to slow down and work the problem. Charging into an unknown situation was Scott’s area of expertise and could as likely end up with two brothers in trouble as with one saved. Virgil was the steady one, the calm one, who looked at a problem before jumping but right now that was killing him every time his mind conjured up another fatal scenario for Alan.  
It was a relief to be moving down the rope, even if he progress was still painfully slow. John and EOS were with him, guiding and helping him pick the best routes. He talked back to Scott and Gordon, almost incessantly, to ease his nerves as much as theirs. Progress was slow but still progress and he was just reaching a point where he would be free to rappel the rest of the way as a kind of chute had formed in the debris down to his target. Pushing off the wall to put himself towards the centre he felt the ground beneath his fingers start to tremble but it was too late, he was already swinging out and away from the sides. Virgil looked up and started to ask Scott what was happening when something moved across the patch of sky above him and he suddenly felt weightless.  
The fall didn’t last long, he just about had time to realise he was going down before hitting the ground feet first. Instinct bent his knees and started him rolling right into a metal girder. Head first.  
Scott was frantic, the ground around him was completely unstable and the people useless. He didn’t dare move more than necessary. Virgil hadn’t spoken again since confirming he’d found Allie, his suit’s telemetry suggested he was unconscious and could have some nasty injuries from the fall. It was taking all his self-control not to reem out the first-responders for approaching their position so carelessly. Really, he knew it was his fault, he’d dropped the ball when his brothers needed him the most. He should have co-ordinated with the other rescuers better. Should have put a warning out not to approach. He was the commander and he should have been in command of the scene not obsessively watching Virgil’s progress. He knew Gordon would be blaming himself too and so was trying to keep him busy; at the moment Gordon was running back to the second pod to check its supplies, top up as needed and bring it over to the scene.   
John had managed to get hold of Garrett, he should have done it sooner, as soon as he had informed Scott about Alan going missing. The site commander was now moving the gawking bystanders away and back to their tasks. There were still a couple of civilian life signs to rescue but EOS had assured him that the conventional rescue teams could cope, with her help, and IR was free to focus solely on rescuing their own people.  
Virgil’s head hurt. His eyes were still shut and he was having difficulty bringing himself to open them, opening his eyes was a major step towards pain and he wasn’t quite ready for that yet. Something in the back of his mind kept nagging at him though, refusing to let him slip back to unconsciousness. He decided to try a compromise; keep his eyes closed but try to speak. “Scott? John?” he murmured and slurred.  
“Virgil. Thank God!” bellowed back Scott’s voice causing Virgil to wince and question whether he had made the right choice. “Are you ok? Do you have Allie?” continued Scott, the questions pouring out “Virgil. What’s your status?” He continued.   
At the mention of his littlest brother’s name, Virgil’s eyes flew open. Pain forgotten he groped around frantically searching, calling his brother’s name over and over in between hacking coughs. A small groan off to his left was the best sound he had ever heard. Allie was alive. “I’ve got you; I’ve got you Allie, I’m here.” He started calling out quietly in the general direction of the earlier groan. “John? Scott? I can hear Allie but I can’t see him yet. He’s alive but probably hurt.” Virgil reached for the torch on his shoulder before simultaneously remembering he’d left it behind to better fit down the hole and feeling an immense pain in his side that almost caused him to black out again. Several deep breaths later he realised he must have made some sort of pained noise out loud because Scott was sounding frantic over the radio again which was not helping his headache.  
“Scott. Calm down, I’m fine. Just a bit battered from the fall.” Virgil managed to respond in what he hoped was a light and confident sounding manner. His eyes had started to adjust to the dark and the pain had subsided enough that he felt comfortable trying to reach the glow sticks in his pocket. Very slowly he moved one arm into position and carefully opened what he hoped was the right pocket. Something in his side felt very wrong and instinctively he knew even a small movement in the wrong way would hurt, and hurt a lot. Finally, he had the glow sticks in front of him and started to bring round a second arm to join the first. This arm didn’t seem to want to respond properly, though. Fighting back panic, Virgil instead tried to crack the glowstick on the ground. After a couple of clumsy tries the first stick was working, followed fairly slowly by another two.  
The light from the glow sticks always gave things an eerie glow, but at least the light was stable; the shadows didn’t flicker. So, when Virgil saw the shadows to his left kept shifting, he knew it had to be because Alan was moving which meant he was definitely alive and probably conscious. Taking several deep breaths Virgil muted his microphone before pushed himself to his hands and knees. His arm and side screamed and it took several more, deep, steadying breaths before the floor stopped spinning. Reopening his eyes Virgil focused on the mass of steel to his left, a small splash of blood showed where he’d hit it after his fall but beyond that blue eyes were looking right at him. Alan had been trapped as he fell between steel girders and covered by debris. It could have been so much worse. Virgil tried to smile back at those eyes, but he was afraid it came out more like a grimace. Alan’s helmet had been badly knocked during the fall and the antenna for the radio smashed. Heavy pieces of debris had fallen on top of him restricting his breathing and preventing him from moving much. His body hurt all over but he was alert and could see that Virgil was also in a lot of pain, he’d heard his brother fall and had to watch helplessly whist Virgil slowly regained consciousness. When they made it to the surface, and he finally caught enough breath to talk properly, he’d have to make sure Virgil was taken care of at a hospital too.  
It didn’t take long for Virgil to arrange for the heaviest bits of debris to be carefully lifted by ropes and grapples and soon enough had been shifted that, between them, Alan and Virgil could get him free of the girders. Virgil’s vision was starting to get fuzzy around the edges, he kept his back to the walls of their little cave so Alan wouldn’t see the blood staining the back of his suit. No doubt if he saw it Alan would insist on Virgil ascending first as he seemed to have miraculously escaped any major injuries. Definitely a concussion and probably a fracture in this arm, a multitude of bruises but Virgil couldn’t find any signs of internal injuries or serious breaks. The mess above them was too jumbled for them to be pulled straight out and it would take some clambering to get to the top just as it had for Virgil to get down. Virgil double checked the harness that had been sent down was fitted on Alan correctly and took the opportunity to, again, surreptitiously pat down his littlest brother to check for injuries. “Alight, Virgil, enough. I’m fine. I Promise.” Alan said, impatient to be back above ground. “Just tell Scott to start lifting me up already.” And with a smile he was off, up above Virgil’s head in no time.   
Virgil leaned back against a reasonably flat bit of girder and closed his eyes, smiling. He must have nodded off for a few minutes as the next thing he knew Scott was demanding to know if he was planning on coming up too or setting up a new home in there. “Geez, Scott. Give a man a minute, I’ve already fallen once today I’d prefer not to repeat the experience.” Replied Virgil, in what he hoped was a relaxed tone as he fumbled and rushed to put on the harness that had appeared in front of him. Being raised in a harness was never a pleasant experience but with the injury to his side it was agony. Virgil gritted his teeth and focused on breathing, it was almost a relief to reach the section that would require him to navigate for himself, as it would at least provide some sort of distraction even if it would be even more painful.  
In a bit of a haze, with most of his hearing blocked by a rushing noise, Virgil emerged from the top of the hole and crawled across the ground to where his brothers stood, waiting. He figured if they brought it up, he could say he was worried about the stability of the ground, but as he neared Scott, he could tell excuses would be pointless, somehow, they knew he was hurt. It then occurred to him, that the waiting stretcher next to Scott wasn’t for Alan as Alan was already sat on one being fussed over by Gordon. Sometimes having a know it all brother as a commander was a bit of a nuisance. But as Virgil crawled the last few feet he decided he may as well crawl straight onto the waiting stretcher and maybe know it all brothers weren’t all bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally finished! Yay!!! Took so much longer than I had hoped or expected, I really struggled with the end there :( but am super pleased to have finished my first multi-chapter fic and hopefully more will follow :)


End file.
